Kansas Wheat reminds farmers to enter the 2022 National Wheat Yield Contest. The discount for early entries for winter wheat ends on April 15, providing a solid window for producers to survey and select their best potential plots as they green up.

The National Wheat Yield Contest is organized by the National Wheat Foundation. The contest is divided into two primary competition categories, winter wheat and spring wheat; and two subcategories, dryland and irrigated.

The 2022 National Wheat Yield Contest will recognize the top 24 individual winners at the 2023 Commodity Classic. Final winter wheat entries for the contest are due May 16, followed by spring wheat entries, which are due Aug. 1. The 2022 National Wheat Yield Contest features a new quality component. Each of the yield winners’ samples will be tested for milling and baking qualities. If the samples meet all of the markers for industry-desired quality, the producer will receive an additional $500 cash award.

Kansas farmers must be members of the Kansas Association of Wheat Growers to enter the national contest.

Learn more about the new rules for the 2022 National Wheat Yield Contest, or submit your entry at yieldcontest.wheatfoundation.org.

Beef Empire Days May 14-15

The 54th annual Beef Empire Days will be held in Garden City this year.

Events will kick off May 14-15 with the Beef Empire Cutting Horse Association Contest, and wind up with the annual Golf Tournament June 25 and 26.

The monthslong festivities celebrating the Kansas beef industry will be highlighted once again, with the Merck Animal Health Live Show June 7 at the Finney County Fairgrounds Arena. To learn more, visit beefempiredays.com.

Lesser prairie-chicken count begins

Aerial surveys for lesser prairie-chickens began March 23 and will run through mid-May in five states containing lesser prairie-chicken habitat, including Kansas.

The surveys are conducted annually by the Western Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies (WAFWA) to document population trends and determine how the species is responding to habitat management strategies identified in the Lesser Prairie-Chicken Rangewide Conservation Plan. See it at wafwa.org/lesser-prairie-chicken.

The surveys will be conducted by helicopter in locations chosen randomly within the lesser prairie-chicken range, which in Kansas includes most of the western third of the state. Initial results from this year’s surveys will be available near July 1.

The rangewide conservation plan is a collaborative effort among WAFWA and the state wildlife agencies of Kansas, Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Colorado. It was developed to ensure conservation of the lesser prairie-chicken with voluntary cooperation of landowners and industry. The plan allows agriculture producers and industry to continue operations while reducing impacts to the bird and its grassland habitat.

Business council honors rancher

The Agricultural Business Council of Kansas City will bestow Manhattan rancher Jan Lyons its highest honor, the Jay B. Dillingham Award for Agricultural Leadership and Excellence. She will be recognized at a luncheon in Kansas City, May 18.

Lyons is a past president of both the Kansas Livestock Association and the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association. She also has served as chairman of the Cattlemen’s Beef Promotion and Research Board and president of the Kansas Angus Association.  Beef magazine named her Producer of the Year” in 2004; and in 2008, she was recognized as Stockman of the Year by Kansas State University and the Livestock and Meat Industry Council.